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Mr Cook said that this year he’s paying around £5,000 per year in business rates. Next year that will go up by £1,600 and the year after that by the maximum £600.

He said: “I don’t think that it will put us out of business. But it’s a big increase and it does make things more difficult.

Grant Cook, of the Sandford Park Ale House

“It feels like the high street and its businesses are an easy target. And it’d hard enough as it is competing with big supermarkets and even more so companies that sell online and don’t have the costs of buildings in the high street.

“You can’t keep going to the same places for your tax take, because you will put them out of business.

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And Lisa Barnes, the landlady of the Bayshill Inn, says the impact of the increases strikes hardest at independent businesses.

Lisa Barnes, owner of the Bayshill Inn in Cheltenham with the Best of the Best Wadworth Retailer of the Year Award 2016

The pub’s rateable value has doubled.

Lisa said: “It’s especially hard because it’s just me running the business. I’m a single mother, so I have to pay someone to cover, and we don’t get any help at all from the government.

“This hits at the independent pubs much harder – the big chains will be okay, but it feels like we are a target and we’re just having to pay more and more and more. The late night levy came in a couple of years ago, now this. It feels like it’s never-ending.”

At the same time as pubs and other town centre businesses are dealing with business rate increases, an investigation by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), has found that out-of-town supermarkets and businesses based in industrial estates have seen their rateable vale reduced after the reassessment.

Tony Lucas, spokesman for the Cheltenham branch said the rate increases were a significant problem for pubs across the country.

He said: “Pubs, which tend to be in town centres are being badly hit by this – and it seems strange that supermarkets and those companies which sell alcohol on the internet are getting a tax break.

“This particularly affects pubs which are often independent businesses and also things like small independent tea-shops and cafes.”

The national organisation said that 28,000 pubs in Britain have closed since 1970, and that the country now has fewer than 50,000 pubs. It has described the business rate increase as a ‘ticking time bomb’ for the pub trade.

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Business rate valuations are set by the Government’s Valuation Office Agency.

A Government spokesman said: “The Great British pub is a national treasure and we’re backing communities that want to protect and run their local. We’ve already provided more than 9,000 small pubs with a £1,000 discount on their businesses rates bill as part of our £435 million package of support for businesses. In addition, both pubs and their customers have saved over £2 billion since 2013 thanks to changes to alcohol duty.”

Business rates are collected by Cheltenham Borough Council which is looking at ways of assisting some business. The revaluation in April has seen increases and reductions for businesses, explained Jayne Gilpin, head of revenues and benefits at Cheltenham Borough Council.

“For pubs rateable values are based on receipts so effectively based on how well the business is doing.

“There is a transitional scheme to limit the amount of increase or decrease. On top of this additional reliefs have been made available to help with increases. There is a specific relief to help pubs and we have a local revaluation support scheme to help smaller local businesses which includes pubs. All these reliefs were approved at cabinet on September 12.

“We have identified businesses we believe should qualify for the additional reliefs and either awarded the relief or sent application forms. We are now in the process of doing another sweep to see if we can identify any more.”

She advised businesses to call the helpline on 01242 264255 for more advice.